The Men Who Stare At Gogoats
by ARandomDay
Summary: A detective is drawn into a paranormal conspiracy featuring floating heads, electrical spirits, and other mysterious phenomena.
1. Chapter 1

**Pokemon and all of its associated properties are owned by GAME FREAK and Nintendo.**

**The author purports to make no profit and recognizes no ownership of said properties.**

The leaves filtered the light of the full moon, creating dappled patterns upon the ground, upon which blood would soon be spilled. It was at this time that the woman stumbled through the forest, shining a flashlight, trying to cross the forest. As she hastened down the path, she heard a whispering sound from behind her. The woman turned and aimed the flashlight, but saw only the twinkling lights of a group of Ledyba. She turned again and continued along the trail. It was urgent that she reach Santalune City on time; she feared that she might go into labor soon. Her husband was away on business in Sinnoh, and her baby was not due for another two months. Yet just that morning, she had felt contractions. They had ceased by midday, but fearing for the baby, she left that night for the nearest hospital. As she reflected on the day's events, the whispering sound issued again. The woman felt uneasy, as if she were being watched. The hair on the back of her neck prickled, and the whispering sound grew louder. The woman turned, and was sudenly wrapped in something gleaming and slimy. Her mouth was covered, but her belly was not. As her captor drew closer to her, the wrapping material loosened, giving her space to breathe. She was face-to-face with her attacker. The moonlight shone down, and the woman screamed in terror at the sight.

**This is a story that can also be found on the Nuzlocke Forums at**

**( Nuzlocke_Forum/topic/8858585/1/)**


	2. Chapter 2

"Damnit!" the man cursed as he fumbled for and dropped his cell phone. The ringing stopped as the battery fell out from the phone. Swearing, the man reassembled the phone and waited. Some minutes later, it rang again, and the man quickly answered it.

"Hale and Frogger, P.I., Hale here," he announced.

"Detective Hale, nice of you to pick up," a smooth voice came back.

The man's lips tightened. "Oh. It's you," he grumbled.

"Don't sound so disappointed, Hale, it's unbecoming of you," the voice responded.

"Augustine, what do you want?"

"I just thought I'd point you in the direction of a case. Is that so bad of me?"

"After the last case you pointed me to..."

"Well. That was extenuating circumstances and you know it."

"Extenuating circumstances my ass. I caused the Rhyhorn incident because of one of your 'cases'!"

"Now, I've taken the liberty of emailing you the case files. Why don't you and Finn take a look at it?"

Detective Spencer Hale exhaled loudly. "Augustine, sometimes I want to buy you a drink. Other times I want to kick your ass. Lately, I seem to be leaning towards the latter."

"When you decide to investigate, talk to the Aquacorde police. Tell them I sent you. Well, I must go, Cheerio!" The phone went dead.

At that moment, the door swung open as a Froakie hopped in.

"Froooaaak?" it gurgled.

" Phone call from Gus," Hale replied.

"Roak froak?"

"Yes, another case file. No, I'm not looking into it."

"Roak roak?"

"Why? You know damn well why not!"

"Roooaaaaak."

"Do you even remember the Rhyhorn incident?!"

Even as he said that, he knew he had lost. The first rule of his office:

Never mention the Rhyhorn incident.

"All right, let's take a look."

"Froak," the blue creature croaked triumphantly. It hopped onto Hale's shoulder, and he grunted at the weight, before turning the computer on.

It didn't turn on. Cursing, Hale knelt under the desk to reach the computer's power cord. He reconnected it, sat in the chair and the computer booted up, excruciatingly slowly. Grunting again from the Froakie's weight, Hale sank into the chair.

"Here we go," he mumbled as he opened the email. Reading it, Hale's lips tightened again. Another terrible prank by Augustine.

"See? He didn't even put effort into this one."

The Froakie leaned towards the screen, peering at the words. He gave Hale a mournful look and croaked slowly.

"...You're joking."

"Froooak?"

"...Okay, true, but come on. What in the world could do that to a woman?"

"Croooaak."

"Your gut? What do you mean your gut? The only time your gut speaks is when you have indigestion!"

"Froooaaak."

"Fine,fine, if it'll shut you up."

Hale sighed as he stood up. The Froakie jumped from his shoulder to the ground. They exited the room.

Hale shielded his eyes from the midday sun. Ahead of him, the neighborhood children were playing a game.

"No, I wanna be the legendary hero this time!"

"You're always the hero! Give me a turn!"

"Hey! Why can't a girl be the legendary hero?"

Upon hearing Hale's footsteps, they crowded around him.

"Mr. Hale! Tierno Jr. won't let me be the hero!"

"Hey! He won't let ME be the hero!"

"I told you, the hero wasn't a girl!"

"Sorry kids, I have a case to work. You'll have to settle this yourselves," Hale chuckled in an attempt to extricate himself from their midst. They appeared off-put, but let him leave.

He walked towards the town gates, and was greeted by one of the children's parents, who stooped to rub the Froakie.

"Spencer, Finn, good to finally see you out and about. On a case?"

"Yep. Details are confidential, of course."

"Of course. Well, don't let me stop you from your work!"

Spencer tipped his hat and strolled through the gates to Aquacorde.


	3. Chapter 3

Aquacorde was barely a town. Compared to Lumiose or Shalour, it was practically a village. Despite that, it boasted the oldest police force in the region. When Hale and Finn reached the town, they spared not a glance at the various attractions, preferring to make directly for the precinct building. Inside the police station, Hale flashed his badge to the rookie manning the computers at the front desk. "Spencer Hale, P.I.. Augustine Sycamore sent- er, paged ahead for me?"

"Uh-huh, uh-huh," the disinterested cop mumbled. Then his eyes widened.

"Wait, Spencer Hale? The Spencer Hale? The-"

"Shhhhh! Yes, that Hale. Keep it down!" Hale hastily exclaimed.

"But sir, you're-"

" Asking to speak to the officer in charge of the Fontanel case. What part of keep it down do you not understand?"

"Yes, sir!" the rookie exclaimed. Then he lowered his voice, tapping away at the computer. "Yes sir. Sent by Professor Sycamore…go right ahead. Officer Crookes is waiting. Third door on the right." The rookie pointed down a hallway.

"Thanks," Hale said.

"I just want to let you know sir, that I'm your biggest-"

The rookie stopped, realizing that Hale and his Pokemon had already left.

Hale opened the door to Crookes' offcieand cleared his throat. The officer inside, peering at a case file on his desk, looked up. His grim expression shifted to a grin.

"Hale, you salty dog! How have you been? And Finn, you look terrific! You two haven't started any other national incidents, have you?" Officer Trevor Crookes chortled.

"Come on, Trevor, the Lumiose disaster was last year," Hale grumbled. The Froakie croaked in agreement.

"That may be, but the city is still rebuilding. More than half of it is still off limits!"

"Can you blame us? The tower was about to collapse. What were we supposed to do, let it fall onto the reactor?"

"No, you were supposed to stop the stampede from getting near the tower! Ah, hell, I can't stay mad at you. You two are already in hot water with the Ranger Union. Anyway, I got a call from Gus this morning. You're getting on the Fontanel case?"

"You mean he's not screwing around this time?" Hale asked incredulously. Next to him, the Froakie croaked triumphantly.

"Okay Finn, I accept that your gut was correct."

"His gut? I thought that only spoke when it had indiges-"

"FROAK!"

"Sorry Trev, already made that joke. So Gus actually told the truth? Goddamn," Hale wondered aloud, shaking his head.

"Strange as it sounds, he did. Normally, we don't allow private investigators into this sort of case, but given your track record -minus the Rhyhorn incident- and Gus' recommendation… I assume you've read the case files?"

"This morning. Can I see the body?"

"All right. Come on," Crookes said, getting up from his chair. "We're keeping the body on ice in the mortuary at the Center."

"Arceus, Trevor, what happened to this woman?" Hale looked at the body incredulously.

"That's the thing, Hale. We don't know. She was found in Santalune Forest this morning, around eight, by a couple of Trainers. Autopsy puts the time of death at around midnight, but… they've got no idea what could cause this kind of damage. It's clearly a bite of some kind, but the most dangerous Pokemon in there is a horny Weedle-"

"Please never make that joke again."

"Froak," Finn agreed.

"Fine, fine… Like I said, there's nothing more dangerous in that forest than Weedles or Fletchlings. But this- I don't even know. It might be a bandit, but they tend to lurk around Route 15. Besides, bandits tend to run Carnivine and Drapion, neither of which do this kind of damage. Carnivine bites, yes, but it barely dents. Their teeth are designed to shred the wings off of Mothim, not humans. Drapion slashes its prey before biting. This was purely teeth. And besides, it's pretty obvious that this was a purposeful attack."

"True. So the question remains," Hale noted, "what would cause this kind of damage?"

"Still a mystery. There was no sign of anything near the body. Why don't you check it out?"

"Will do. Where was she found?"

"She was located about a hundred yards from the Santalune side exit."

"Thanks, Trevor. Finn and I will be back within a few hours."

The two men stared down at the body of the woman. Wrap marks scored her body, and her swollen belly indicated that she had been pregnant - at least until something bit into her and ate most of her abdomen, uterus, fetus, and placenta.


End file.
